


i sing anyway

by persephassax



Series: FlashVibe Week 2017 [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Crushes, Holidays, M/M, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 16:02:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13150110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/persephassax/pseuds/persephassax
Summary: Cisco finds out Barry can sing. But it turns out that Barry isn't the only one keeping some extra talent under wraps.





	i sing anyway

**Author's Note:**

> Title from a softer world 263. 
> 
> This was for Prompt #4 (?): Carols. 
> 
> I just love that both Carlos and Grant haveusical backgrounds, you guys. That's the sum total of what this is. Me drooling over musical talent. 
> 
> I don't think we did any Hannukah songs in my Yiddish singing class. But if you want a good Yiddish song, may I recommend "Lay dein kop" — it's a lullaby for adults.

Cisco is over at the West-Allen household helping them decorate their tree. His mother had hers up and decorated by the end of the first week of December, and anyways, she goes for a different unified color scheme every year. He’ll get her a ridiculous ornament that matches this year’s colors like he has every previous year and she’ll hug him and tear up a little. She keeps every single one he's given her, even if she tries never to repeat a color.

Iris and Joe are in the kitchen getting Christmas cookies and hot tea. They're laughing and the sound is echoed in stereo where Barry is sitting next to him on the couch and Wally is asking for art direction while he drapes the tinsel. Barry's instructions are astoundingly unhelpful like “it needs more whimsy” or “it's got to drape with _feeling_ ” and Cisco is almost certain the eggnog that Barry is waving around, which might or might not be doctored with Cisco’s speedster special, isn't helping.

The doorbell sounds and Barry leaps up at light speed yelling “CAROLERS!” and he's gone. He reappears in a blur by the door and makes a show of composing himself, flattening his hair (which doesn't really help, of course), and then opens the door. He’s smiling hugely at the assembled people on the other side who are bundled up with hats and scarves and holding their song books before them.

They launch into _We Wish You a Merry Christmas_ and Barry starts tapping his feet along. Iris and Joe peek out of the kitchen and seeing Barry enraptured, they smile and lean into each other as they settle in to watch.

Cisco and Wally look at each other, eyebrows raised, and stand up to get a closer look at the whole scene.

* * *

 It's not until they've gone through _Oh Hanukkah_ and then a few Latin carols that Cisco doesn't recognize and they get to _Deck the Halls_ that Cisco realizes why the Wests who lived with Barry full time got excited. It’s at the refrain for the song that Barry’s tapping and swaying are clearly no longer enough and he opens his mouth and starts to sing along.

It's one of the most beautiful things Cisco has ever heard.

He's completely floored.

He looks over at Wally and sees that his eyes are round and eyebrows are climbing up his forehead. Then he looks over at Iris who is watching him and she smiles at him, and as he's looking at her, she looks back to Barry—who is practically putting the carolers to shame—and her face goes soft and her smile is almost wistful.

* * *

 The whole thing continues on like that until the carolers have completely exhausted their repertoire, Barry singing along all the while. At the end, Barry is flushed and smiling wider than Cisco has seen in months. A girl, about their age, steps forward as the carolers close their books, laughing, and shuffling around to make their way down the steps of the house. She says, “Come on, Barry. Every year, you sing along and you sound so good with no prep and no warm up… You wouldn't even have to come to rehearsal, just grab your coat and join us.”

Barry laughs her off, self-deprecating, waving his hand.

“No, I couldn't possibly. I just love singing along when you're here. I'm not anything special, I just love it.”

Cisco thinks he hasn't heard Barry say anything that stupid since he tried to tell them he wasn't anything special as a runner.

* * *

 Cisco still finds himself thinking about it and marveling three days later when he’s in the lab. He's poking away at his latest design and flirting with the idea of diving back into some coding that needs doing for the satellite uplink. He thinks he can make some edits that will speed things up, but he'd have to try a few times before he was sure.

Caitlin is sitting on the other end of the room, humming to herself. She’s slightly off key, like always, and slowly Cisco realizes that she’s humming _Holly Jolly Christmas_. Instantly his mind flashes back to Barry’s voice, swelling as he got to the chorus, cheeks flushed, eyes closed, full throated sound coming from deep within him.

“Hey, Caitlin,” he says. “Did you know Barry could sing?”

She looks up at him, face screwed up and then she flushes.

“Oh God, he didn't show you the video did he?” she asks.

“What? What video?”

She puts her hand up to her eyes and shakes her head.

“We went out and ended up at karaoke, ages ago. I sounded terrible—”

“Like always,” Cisco chimed in with a shit eating grin. Caitlin rolled her eyes at him.

“Barry was amazing.”

Cisco nods, thinking back to Barry’s performance with the carolers.

“Why do you ask?” Caitlin asks Cisco, leaning in, rolling forward a bit. She's got her gossip collecting face on, something she never shows around anyone other than him. Her usual butter wouldn't melt demeanor is more recent, coming when Ronnie left them, and this is a side of Caitlin he misses.

“I was over at Joe’s for the tree decorating, and some carolers came by and Barry started singing along. It was amazing,” Cisco knows he sounds a little like a schoolgirl with a crush, but he’s been known to sound that way when talking about Barry on-and-off since they first met him. Cisco’s low-grade crush on Barry is a badly kept secret between him and Caitlin, and he doesn't mind the occasional slip up around her.

“I mean, I don't know what you're so surprised about,” Caitlin says, off-hand, as she  turns back to her lab setup. “You're no slouch yourself when it comes to music, either.”

Cisco feels a flush creep up his cheeks. That’s a sore spot for him—and a much more jealously guarded secret.

* * *

 

They're in the lab, a full week after the incident with the carolers, and Cisco is absent mindedly starts humming under his breath to the tune of _Let It Snow_. He’s working away and he gets lost in the adjustments he’s making to Barry’s suit. He isn't aware that he’s singing until suddenly he hears someone clear their throat behind him. He stops what he’s doing and turns, and sees Barry standing at the doorway to the lab.

He stares at Barry for a second before Barry clears his throat again and begins, somewhat uncertainty, his voice getting swallowed up by the room:

_Oh the weather outside is frightful…_

_But the fire is so delightful…_

And Cisco knows he can't leave Barry hanging, putting himself out there. Not when his voice sounds so sweet. So he chimes in:

_But since we’ve no place to go,_

_Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…_

And then he pushes a little harder, let's his voice swell with feeling.

_It doesn't show signs of stopping_

And Barry chimes in, leading the next line

_But I've brought some corn for popping_

And their voices come together, meshing in duet,

_But since we’ve no place to go,_

_Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!_

* * *

 

They continue on like that, Cisco stands up, and Barry walks toward him and they meet somewhere on the edge of the room. Cisco can see Barry’s smile taking over his face, his cheeks getting the same flush from the night with the carolers. He feels his own face being overtaken with a smile. They’re standing right in front of each other, swaying a little bit as they sing. They do a few of the verses twice and Cisco starts leading Barry across the room like they’re in an old Bing Crosby Christmas movie.

They don't take their eyes off each other, slowing down as they do the final repeat of the refrain, with gusto. At the end of the song they find themselves standing in the middle of the room with their arms around each other.

Cisco is nearly breathless, afraid to move or breathe for fear of breaking the moment, uncertain though it is, it feels like they're on the cusp of something. Barry is the one who leans in.

Their lips meet and for a second Cisco thinks Barry might dip him, even though he knows it would end badly, especially for him. It's almost cinematic, close mouthed, for the most part, but with a full force of feeling behind it that Cisco knows is anything but show.

* * *

 

It's not until later—after a few more _intimate_ kisses—when they're at Jitters, holding hands across the table like high schoolers on a first date, that Cisco asks, “Where did you learn to sing?”

Barry flushes but also looks down with that twist to his mouth which means he's thinking about something that makes him sad, and Cisco has a feeling he knows where this story starts.

“My mom,” _there it is,_ Cisco thinks, “was always singing. I was always singing along with her. She said I should go out for a choir, but I was embarrassed to sing in front of people. She had just convinced me to join a choir after school when Zoom—”

Barry's story cut off there, predictably. Cisco squeezed his hand and let the subject matter drop.

An instrumental version of _Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen_ played over the coffee house speakers. Barry eventually raised his head up and gave Cisco a sheepish smile.

“What about you?” he asked.

Cisco sighed.

“You know about Dante. Well, he's not the only musically gifted Ramon. I used to be his accompaniment on the piano. I could never play as well as him, but I could definitely sing better. It always drove him crazy.” Cisco smiled at that. Driving Dante crazy was his life blood as a younger sibling.

“Well, you have a beautiful voice,” Barry said, clearly without thinking about it, and then flushed bright red.

Cisco blushed and smiled wide at the compliment.

As he leaned in to press their mouths together, he said, “You, too, Barry.” And relished the feeling of Barry’s smile against his own.  


End file.
